County may ‘reach a consensus’ on ‘Project Christmas’ contract Friday

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September 6, 2012

County may ‘reach a consensus’ on ‘Project Christmas’ contract Friday

Staff CNHI The Suwannee Democrat Thu Sep 06, 2012, 05:10 PM EDT

Live Oak — The Suwannee County Board of County Commissioners will be meeting Friday morning in a special-called meeting which may decide the fate of “Project Christmas” a state-of-the-art sawmill locating in western Suwannee County owned by Klausner Lumber One, LLC.  

The county decided to hold the meeting because the company requested the county reach a consensus by Friday.

 “On Tuesday night (Sept. 4), a member of the Klausner team communicated to representatives of the county that the company was requiring that the county commission reach a consensus on the contract by Friday,” said County Administrator Randy Harris.

 Board of County Commission Attorney Hal Airth said since the meeting is open to the public and the county is not voting on accepting the contract Friday, they can come to a consensus on whether they want to move forward with the contract even before the official vote on Sept. 18.  

Representatives of the county and Klausner have been in talks for awhile now and there have already been several contract revisions that have been publicly addressed in several meetings.

 The most recent contract draft will be given to commissioners Friday.

 If the contract between the two parties is approved, the company plans to build a southern yellow pine sawmill on the site near the I-10 and US 90 interchange that will produce, at full production, about 375 million board feet per year and non-lumber products including chips, sawdust and bark.  

Commissioners recently purchased 155 acres that the company is requesting in order to accommodate their operations. That purchase was previously contingent upon the county and the company entering into a contract. However, at a recent meeting, the county voted to move forward with purchasing the property without the contract being signed. Fifty-five of those acres will be used to create a buffer zone to be used by the county for construction of an off-site storm water facility, clear air permit buffering and other uses. The remaining 100 acres will be site ready so the company can begin building. The county purchased the 155 acres for about $1 million. In August 2009 the county purchased 100 acres at the site at US 90 West and I-10 for $499,950 to be used as the catalyst site. Only 20 of those acres are being used to add on to the 155 acres for the proposed site for Klausner, giving the company 120 site ready acres. It has been reported in recent meetings that Klausner officials said the 100 acres the county already owned and for use for projects such as this, was not laid out properly and would not accommodate a rail spur.  

Representatives for the county on Thursday morning were at the Suwannee County Courthouse to bid on an additional 237 acres of land at the site that was being auctioned off. The county was looking to purchase the property at auction in hopes of using the land to entice future growth. However, it was learned at the auction that the land was tied to another 1,000 acres that the county was not looking to buy. Harris said the county will be negotiating with the bank that bought the land at auction in order to try to buy the 237 acres from them.  

The current draft of the contract states that the company agrees to employ 86 people in the first year of operation, 150 would be employed in the second and 350 full-time employees in the third with wages no less than $14 an hour. However, the draft states that the county agrees to cancel its lien on the property upon hiring by the company of 86 full time employees in the first year.  The county is seeking a reverter clause in the contract that states that the land given to the company by the county would revert back to the county if commencement of construction has not occurred within 18 months of the date that the title is conveyed to the company.  According to the contract, the commencement of construction can be a concrete slab.

The company is seeking a tax abatement of 100 percent for 10 years.

 Harris said that if anyone would like a copy of the proposed contract, they can stop by his office at 13150 80th Terrace in Live Oak. You can call his office at 386-362-3992.

 The meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday at City Hall in Live Oak.

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County may ‘reach a consensus’ on ‘Project Christmas’ contract Friday

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